Neil Moore was stuck in Wandsworth Prison when, for some reason, he decided he really didn’t feel like being there anymore. Since it’s usually against prison policy to just let inmates out, Moore had to use a brilliant scheme.

He got his hands on a cell phone and set up a fake email account for a court clerk. He then sent the prison bail instructions from the account, and they actually fell for it. Moore’s ruse was soon discovered though, and he turned himself in three days later.

All of this took place back in 2014, but the courts are just now hearing testimony about the incident. According to the prison staff, the entire thing was well planned out and very convincing. Since Moore was in prison in the first place for fraud, it’s not entirely unbelievable that he managed to create a really hard to trace fake email account. On the other hand, it’s also pretty easy to believe that nobody really checked very hard to verify the request. After all, blaming everything on emails either sent or received is pretty much the universal way of saying “wasn’t my fault” in the professional world these days.